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Food is a great connector. In recent days, the death of Anthony Bourdain has reminded people of how food connects us. Yet, the food industry is not immune to digital disruption. So what is the future of food, and how do we make sure that all important human connection is maintained?

Will my son, who is three, be able to cook? I cook, and both my parents have worked as cooks, so I imagine that I will pass that skill on. But like driving, it might not be up to me. Cooking could become a specialised skill – or a hip one. Like listening to vinyl or playing physical board games. A novel recreation rather than an every day need.

I see the rise of Blue Apron, Uber Eats and the services around food, and it is going to change the way we make food. There’s a sandwich place I really like in Marrickville (Reuben Republic), but by the time I have finished my meal, a couple of dozen Uber Eats/Foodora/Deliveroo divers have come through. A majority of their work is delivery. I’m sitting in the store, reading a physical newspaper, like a relic of the past.

Now let’s tip the scales. If you get to the point where 80 percent of your business is delivery – how long before you close the door and just make nothing but food to deliver? Like the strange button shop on King St that does all their business online, why even open the doors and spend the cost on cleaning, cutlery and chairs? Let alone expensive licenses.

When the scales tip, they will tip for everyone. And when it doesn’t matter so much where you cook from, I imagine food will crash with another modern idea – hotdesk workplaces. I imagine an Ikea sized building, with specific but modular fittings for food creation – fridges, ovens, ventilation. It will be taken over by hundreds of vendors, big and small. And that hub serves several neighbourhoods. That strip of local restaurants will become a warehouse, with a large fleet of motorcycles, or probably drones.

That might seem extreme, but it’s definitely one way it could go. There’s a brutal, technological brilliance there. The Amazon-ing of cooked meals. With costs coming down because of the shared space, and technology driving speed increases, the game will be about delivery. You can track your meals. You can set recurring orders. Maybe even your own health data is in your profile, and allergies are taken care of. Maybe the app even tracks your intake. With managing and limiting screen time being the craze of 2018, are we that far from Foodora stepping in and giving you tools to manage your sugar?

The line about self driving cars is that it is scary until you need it. When you are hungover but need to go somewhere. Or when you can find a park so the car can go park itself in its own time. So too will the culture shift be invisible when any food you want can be delivered to your door, any time, all the time. I want a hot dog right now.

The problem with this technological efficiency is that it’s a cultural dead end. How will people discover new food? And the culture behind the food? Here is where I worry.

Hopefully, the ease of cooking promotes variety. Anyone who cooks knows that there are like maybe ten dishes in the world. Every culture has a curry, or a casserole, or a dumpling, or a noodle salad. Kimchi is essentially sauerkraut. So hopefully those similarities will drive that variety. That en masse, it’s actually easy to make a lot of different dishes from different places. This is your food for life – it needs to be more food you’ve never heard of than meals you know.

Ingredients will be a problem. With a single cooking hub, I expect business will get in the way. Is there a single tomato sponsor? A banana deal? I would like to think not – that any food hub that goes down this road will lose to the tastier food hub who lets the people who want to cook do their best. I think word of mouth will still exist in this world. But I also grant you Uber Eats does a lot of McDonalds business. But if in your app there is a delicious wood fried pizza or something from Dominos, with a small cost difference, I would like to think the Wood Fried Pizza team would be able to stay in business.

Discovery will be a problem. How do we learn about new foods? I really hope it doesn’t become like Spotify, where the app and the hub holds all the power. The food hub’s weekly playlist of dishes driving what people eat – a literal recipe for disaster. Which is why we need the children of Anthony Bourdain. We need cooking shows, meal shows, the way we need film shows and music shows. Best new albums? New blockbuster at the cinema? New cuisine for me to try?

Which is the reason I am writing this at all. That it has been on my mind that we need more shows like Phil Rosenthal’s Somebody Feed Phil or David Chang’s Ugly Delicious. And Anthony Bourdain’s wonderful shows should be treated like the Beatles back catalogue. Food shows that aren’t about cooking, but about eating, about history, about culture, about language, about life.

There is one other, important thing we need to do, no matter what happens with food and cooking as it clashes against technology. We have to keep the doors open. I can see that Ikea like hub of food stalls, but I use Ikea as the model – not an Amazon warehouse. Wherever people make food, in the future, it is essential that we can get near it. And if it’s a strange warehouse with 100 stalls inside, that it is one where people can walk around, soak up the smells, and try something. Not everyone will go, and not everyone will go all the time. But some will – and they will be literal tastemakers, who can spread the word. We should reward risk takers.

This is a fantasy. I can see restaurants going away. They’ve existed for millennia. But as the process of making and discovery of anything continue to be hidden away in black mirrors in our pockets, we need to start talking more about the things we love. And everyone loves a good meal.

I have heard, through the traps, that the owner of Sydney’s Comic Kingdom, Steve Smith, has passed away. It has brought up a swell of old memories for me. Comic Kingdom was a very important place for me.

As a kid in Sydney, I remember passing the shop on Liverpool St many times. It was near Chinatown, and I wondered what was inside long before I would go in. But when I finally did, around 1990/1991, it was a wonderland. A confusing wonderland, but a wonderland.

I know it was 1990/1991 because I remember what I bought. It was the era of some of the most seminal comics of all time. Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1. Claremont and Jim Lee’s X-Men #1, all four covers. Death of Superman. That first wave of Image Comics. I remember bundling upstairs where the super hero comics were. Leaving my school bag downstairs, of course. And scanning the new releases lined up across the floor.

Comic Kingdom was a strange store. It seemed like most of the time they didn’t want you in there. It looked more like an adult book store, with a small side door and no way to look into store from the street. Half of the upstairs was this strange rarities section, roped off and out of bounds. The bottom floor back room was full of strange games and fanzines and again, you’d get asked why you wanted to go in there. And the comics on the ground. The mess everywhere.

Somewhere along the line, Comic Kingdom fell behind the times. I think it was in Scott McCloud’s Making Comics, where he talks about the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, and how the grains of truth in that character had to go if comics were to survive. As comic stores became more family friendly, girl friendly and just generally friendly, Comic Kingdom did not. That small hidden door. Leave your bag downstairs.

Their cross town rivals Kings Comics seemed to understand the changing world of comics better, and thrived. I discovered comics at Comic Kingdom. But I held my standing order at Kings for many years. Other stores that felt like secret clubs, like The Land Beyond Beyond, went away. But somehow, without changing or updating, Comic Kingdom survived. I pass it all the time, but I never go in. I still, now, don’t want to impose.

That facade did a great job advertising comics to Sydney. It’s so faded and out of time. You can’t see into the store. The only change was when they stopped trading on Sundays and the sign says Open 6 Days. But it was in a prominent space, that shop held a promise of fantastic stories and great heroes. In a time when superheroes are such a big part of culture, it is sad to think that one of the key pioneers in Sydney has gone. At some point, so will that wonderful store facade.

Long Time Running (2007)
The Tragically Hip
Directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicolas de PencierNetflix (outside of Canada)

I am probably a rarity when it comes to The Tragically Hip. I am a casual fan. OK, maybe a little bit more, but they are a band that are loved for everything they did, or completely ignored. That usually correlates to how Canadian you are, and a teenage (pretentious) exploration of Canadian music led me to them, the biggest band in Canada. It also helped that they were on Warners, where I worked for a while. In Australia, we valiantly tried to release singles like MyMusic At Work to deafening indifference.

This documentary tells the story of one moment in the band’s history – the final ones. Lead singer and lyricist Gord Downie was diagnosed with a brain cancer. Against the odds, the band rallied for a bunch of farewell concerts around Canada, which became huge, national events. Downie died, shortly after the documentary was released.

There’s a lot of story to tell, and the film takes us through the personal rather than the musical. There’s a lot about the sickness, the decisions made, the effort to learn songs, and the feelings of everyone involved. Only in the very last minutes of the film do we get anything close to a performance of a full song. This is not a way to discover the band’s music. This is also a loving portrait, not a critical assessment. Don’t expect skeletons here.

Where this documentary works best is the feels. At one point, Justin Trudeau turns up, and he is emotionally overwhelmed (Trudeau was in tears when he announced Downie’s death). There’s seas of fans singing along to every song, saying goodbye to their hero. This was a band that had their rabid fanbase, and this film is for them.

The other important part of this film is serving as a portrait of Gord Downie. His lyrics, and his worldview, is much of what gives the band their special flavour. And we get a lot of time with Gord, and him being Gord. We get to see him get dressed, with two socks sown together as a neck tie. The way he kisses and hugs his band mates. And in a touching interview for this film, talks long about life and mortality. He is a special man.

The film takes us through the decision to tour, the planning of the tour, then the tour itself. It ends with their final show in Kingston, a huge event beamed into public parks throughout Canada. There’s lots of tears fans singing along to the big hits when they finally come, like Grace, Too and Ahead By A Century.

This is a special moment, captured. Very few people get to face their death head on, and even fewer have a platform like being the biggest band in their country. It’s not a great place to discover the music, or hear some great music.

Easily, easily my favourite album this year. A quiet, intimate little story telling album, that at places sounds like an extended tribute to Leonard Cohen, but the man can sing and there’s lots of colour. Best are the stories, the lyrics and the rush of images and hope. Unabashedly joyous without being naff, and timeless without sacrificing hooks. I’m still finding new moments of wonder in it every time. The best track is still the first, Firecracker, a simple story, beautifully told, culminating in an image as memorable as anything I’ve ever heard or read.

2. Real Estate – In Mind

Comes in seconds simply due to the number of plays. It’s like Television grew up in a stable family and got some sun. Long blissful jamming matched with long blissful lyrical nonsense. Everything here is serving mood and tone, and they hold it down for a whole album without getting boring. You can hear all the influences but still its own thing. If you like minute-plus intros, you’ll love this album.

3. Elbow – Little Fictions

I’ve always liked Elbow, but as I get older they make more and more sense. Go figure. The band create an inventive, emotional bed for Guy Garvey to be all wise and insightful. And they songs seep in, with incredible hooks, matched with an incredible way that Garvey sees the world. He’s mellowed with age too, and his kitchen sink love songs were the perfect antidote to 2017.

4. Toby Martin – Songs From Northam Avenue

A big change from Toby’s normal inventive pop, he collaborated with a bunch of musicians in Western Sydney to write songs about those suburbs. It leads to a more scrambled, rickety take on Martin’s pop smarts. Far more relaxed and sweet than his previous Love’s Shadow, there are great escapist moments – the single Spring Feeling is a real highlight and doesnt end up where you’d expect.

5. Laura Marling – Semper Femina

Marling continues to be on time – she’s done the Joni Mitchell folk period, and is now two albums into her Joni Mitchell sonic experimental period. This album seems to be a compilation of her last fee years. There’s jazzy songs, intimate acoustic songs and rocking electric songs. She also still sings with the experience of an 80 year old, spinning anachronistic stories about women in strife, and the living of life. Reliable, but let’s hope she mixes it up again.

6. John Kennedy – JFK & The Midlife Crisis

Not sure what I was expecting from a John Kennedy album in 2017, but he has delivered a pleasure of an album. So many of the songs here that sound like they should be radio smashes, with big choruses, and big hooks. His obsession with our place is not lost with plenty of Sydney, almost none more than the wonderful Peter Says, which mentions the Cat Protection Society in Enmore. His voice is sounding particularly great too.

7. Alex Dezen – II

Dezen made my favourite album last year. This doesn’t consistently reach the heights of the last one. It’s still a hopelessly sad album, matched with a more upbeat set, some are truly danceable. Simply put, a couple of duffers on this one, but then also moments of amazing beauty, like New York To Paradise, imagining his mother in heaven and getting her dreams. The themes continue from the last self titled album, and a nice book end. Heartbreaking honesty, without the Ryan Adams type posing, and actual song craft.

8. Paul Kelly – Life Is Fine

Every decade or so, Paul Kelly decides to make a crowd pleaser. And reminds us he can kick pop rock ass, if he only cared to. Life Is Fine is this decade’s collection – so fun, so soulful, so sexy. The first three tracks – Rising Moon, Finally Something Good, Firewood And Candles – are about as great as any Paul Kelly singles. Unlike his contemporaries (Walker, Finn, et all), Kelly has always been more red blooded, and he really lets that part of him shine. Surrounded as usual by a kick ass band, with plenty of Vika And Linda. Album cover of the year too.

9. Jen Cloher – Jen Cloher

Cloher probably knew her new album would be greeted with a big audience, with the success of her label. And in many ways, she has delivered a year one album – restating all the excellent things about her music, uncompromisingly. Restless, repetitive guitars mixed with beautifully thrown away lyrics. It’s less about intimacy, more about big statements. It’s matched with an energy that suggests these songs will be a lot of fun live (the album is incredibly captured).

10. Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott – Crooked Calypso

Three albums in four years, all of them huge chart successes in the UK. Heaton has found a fourth life (after the Housemartins, The Beautiful South and his solo career), and he is revelling in it. Writing for Abbott has brought a sweetness to his songs, and as usual he writes them with more energy and speed than anyone else his age. This album is even more indebted to Northern soul, and the big gospel-ly numbers probably reflect the large rooms they play. He’s still a grumpy old fuck – an unapologetically working class, anti-authoritarian, cynical, bitter bastard. But he makes it sound such fun. The soundtrack to dance with the madness of this year.

Here’s actual music videos from these albums, and 10 other albums/EPs I liked this year.

I pretty much didn’t hear any chart music. There’s a longer conversation to be had about the large number of people who love music, who would claim music is their lives, but don’t come across what’s trending. But another time – but this list is definitely just the records I somehow come across or knew about.

Listening habits were strange this year. I listen to more podcasts than music. But the iPhone 7’s 256GB storage meant I could finally load 130GB or so of music on there and I’ve gone back to listen to a lot of old stuff. I probably listened to more Lorenz And Hart than Wilco.

I’m not sure if this was a good year for music. For completely self-centred reasons, I found music to be largely lacking in the emotional solace I was looking for. Maybe because it has been a tough year with no easy answers. But the artists who should be providing wisdom were lacking. It ended up being personal stories, and personal records that resonated with me. It’s such a simple trick, one often forgotten, that sometimes all art is about is connecting to another human.

As usual, no friend’s albums on the list, excluding wonderful albums by Adam Gibson and the Ark Ark Birds, Bryan Estepa, Katie Brianna, Jason Walker, The Nature Strip, Fallon Cush and many more.

1. Alex Dezen – Alex Dezen

This is supposed to be a top 10, but this album I’ve listened to more than the rest of the ten combined. This album is 2016 for me. Dezen was the frontman of The Damnwells (who made my 2nd fave album of 2011) and this is his first solo album. with no commercial restraints or ambitions, he kind of went for it here. It’s an inventive pop/singer songwriter effort, and Dezen plays just about everything.

But the songs. Dezens drags out the demons. Like Revolver, an album pinned by three gorgeously melodic ballads, this album at its heart is the three gut-wrenching ballads; ‘I Don’t Want To Be Alone’ – about how his fear of time trumps his fear of death. It is his mother’s least favourite song. ‘I Have’ – as beautiful song about (in part) not looking at your phone when a friend plays you their music. And ‘Ode To Ex-Girlfriends’ is the kind of novelist detail of stunning lines and memorable images.

There’s a failed marriage, a disappointed mother, and an absent father all taken through the wringer. From the complicated feelings about the killing of Osama Bin Laden to a guitar he shouldn’t have sold. 10 wonderful short stories that I will go back to over and over in years to come.

Songs: Ode To Ex-Girlfriends, I Don’t Want To Be Alone, I Have

2. Sarah Watkins – Young In All The Wrong Ways

Sarah Watkins of Nickel Creek fame has released solo albums before, but this is a wonderful, rocking, fun album with plenty of heart. If there’s strands to this album it is confidence and empowerment. Watkins is pretty clear on what she wants (‘Move Me‘), which regrets to bury (‘Young In All The Wrong Ways‘) and walking away from bad situations (‘One Last Time‘). It’s an utterly charming album.

In Nickel Creek, she was already the best singer in a band of great singers. There’s not a lot of her trademark fiddle, but she translates that musicianship easily into the guitar, creating stunning moments of power and intimacy when needed. On the track, ‘Like A New Year’s Day‘, was by far the best song-for-making-me-feel-better of 2016. A simple story of a drive to a friend’s house to relax and unwind – the softest kiss of music all year.

Songs: Like A New Year’s Day, One Last Time, Move Me

3. The I Don’t Cares – The I Don’t Cares

Paul Westerberg teams up with Juliana Hatfield on a rocking new duo, pushing Westerberg to make exactly the same kind of album he’s been making for 30 years. And god it’s a good record. It sounds like it was again recorded in Westerberg’s basement, with lyrics that sound tossed off yet impossibly cool. A heart tangled up by the opposite sex, in a teenage milkshake way. There is, kinda, nothing personal going on here. But it sure is sweet.

It’s hard to know who this album is for. It sounds like a teenage party record – but I don’t think this duo’s audience has parties anymore. So there’s a layer of nostalgia here – this is the type of music, and songs, I used to like when I was a 17 year old discovering The Replacements. A nice place to visit.

Songs: Kissing Break, Back, Just A Phase

4. John Prine – For Better, Or Worse

John Prine‘s long career got a boost in 1999 with In Spite Of Ourselves an album of duets with the (then) hottest female singers of the alt-country set. That title track became a standard – there’s twenty couples somewhere playing the song right now. For Better, Or Worse is the sequel, with some newer country singers, alt-country but a memory.

The joy of this album is hearing (and discovering) these old duets, usually from the 1930s (‘Falling In Love Again’) to the TV honky tonks of the 1960s (‘Mr & Mrs Used To Be‘, originally by Ernest Tubb and Loretta Lynn). The songs are a snapshot of love from a different era. Married early, lots of alcoholism and fighting – you can’t help but think it’s a slightly more honest portrayal of a relationship than, say, The Bachelor.

The other real highlight from this album is how it sounds. Clear as crystal, laid back Bakersfield country. It sounds like one mic, recorded live, with great musicians. Pretty sure Hank (who has a song covered here, and whose granddaughter Holly Williams sings on a track) would have done it this way. Let’s hope there’s a third volume in another 17 years.

Songs: Falling In Love Again, Mental Cruelty, Just Waitin’

5. Emmy The Great – Second Love

One of my favourite albums ever is Central Reservation by Beth Orton. Her album this year was a return to electronica – it was a bit underwhelming. Which is a long way around to Emmy The Great, another British singer songwriter, who dived into electronica and came out with something dramatic, deep and lovely.

I guess she was probably on the path to being a nice indie pop person, in the vein of Kate Nash. I really loved her last album. But it seems like a break-up (with her famous boyfriend) and discovering America has made something more interesting. I always find the best electronica creates this distance between the listener, and then great songs or great ideas break through with more impact. Newly single Emmy tells fascinating tales of finding her feet again. One arresting image (one of many) is being taken to a bar where the drinks cost more than music.

Songs: Social Halo, Swimming Pool, Algorithm

6. Wilco – Schmilco

Wilco were once my favourite band. But around 2009, after seeing about 150 shows and sitting through too many noodle-y versions of the same songs, I drifted away. I bought every record since, listened to each a few times, they were fine. I wouldn’t say Schmilco is a return to form, but it’s closer to what I like about the band – acoustic, slow, thoughtful, tender, basically American Beauty.

I’d be pretty happy if this band pumped out one of these records a few times a decade, mixed with a couple of rocking ones or whatever. It’s like Neil Young. Happy to hear what he’s up to, but I love Silver And Gold and I love Prairie Wind. Schmilco joins Sky Blue Sky as laid back hippie Wilco. It’s not their best work – but it’s what I like.

Songs: Cry All Day, North American Kids, If I Ever Was A Child

7. Teenage Fanclub – Here

No one’s had a good year, and we’ve all needed comfort. Hello Teenage Fanclub, the biggest comfort band there is. I’m not sure this album breaks any new ground. In fact, the last three Fanclub records seem to refine what they do. There’s a song on here called ‘Hold On‘. Initially, I was disappointed – they already have a (great) song called ‘Hang On‘ – thinking the well was dry. But you can’t have too many hugs, and if anything, we need these quietly positive songs even more.

I once remarked that all my favourite songs say the same thing – life is hard, but with you by my side, we can leave this bad situation behind. Teenage Fanclub mine that idea at medium heat, and it’s the joy of slowly sinking into a warm bath. Not that the album is boring – it’s full of great riffs, great solos, and great singing. It just doesn’t feel the need to show off. Who wants to start a TFC covers band?

Songs: Darkest Part Of The Night, I’m In Love, Thin Air

8. Paul Simon – Stranger To Stranger

I’ve always had Paul Simon. So when he sings, on this album, about looking for Proof Of Love, I feel like I’ve been looking for the same thing for decades. Through ‘Homeward Bound‘, ‘America‘ to ‘Outrageous‘ and ‘Questions For the Angels‘, his search for human connection has soundtracked my own. Which is to say – I’m utterly blind to this man’s faults. I guess I can see he’s a bit short.

The old crowd (boomer era critics) praise the latest Simon records for their adventurous sounds and strange touches. It doesn’t actually sound that much different to your run of the mill indie band, say like Magnetic Fields. The strange buzz of feedback and the odd sample are hardly adventurous. But he’s still a phenomenal writer, a cataloguer of love as it gets old and remains strong. And there’s a healthy Randy Newman-esque cynicism and quite a bit of humour – in his own way. Wristband tells the story of being locked out by security for one of his shows, but he turns it into a bigger thought like a great master can do. and how can you beat a line like – “most obits are mixed reviews.”

Songs: Proof Of Love, The Werewolf, Wristband

9. Whitney – Light Upon The Lake

Whitney‘s debut record has made some best of lists, and yeah – it’s a bit hipster nonsense. But the album sounds amazing – and it’s very fun. It’s not a head record – it’s one for the hips and one for the feet. I know they are supposed to sound 70s, but it really sounds like a 90s band doing 70s – like Sloan or Phoenix. Or more modern precedents like Real Estate or Avi Buffalo. This was the record most likely to make me break out into a dance when on my headphones.

Maybe having something to say would detract from what this album is trying to do – it’s not a lyricist trying to get a worldview across. It’s a broadly romantic record, with more than a little sweetness. But it’s more about that trumpet, that rush of bass and that high lonesome vocal. It’s fun, and let’s hope there’s more in them.

Songs: No Matter Where We Go, No Woman, Dave’s Song

10. The Last Shadow Puppets – Everything You’ve Come To Expect

The first album by The Last Shadow Puppets is one of my favourite albums, a perfect surprise of an album. This album, 8 years (i.e. the entire Beatles recording career) later, is like another band entirely. Gone is the heartbroken Scott Walker, and back is Alex Turner’s desperate need to be Nick Cave. Like the last several Arctic Monkeys albums, there’s a lot of dramatic and dangerous women.

This is more Bowie (they’ve been covering ‘Moonage Daydream‘) here than Bacharach, with much heavier guitars and tempos. Iggy Pop, Queens Of the Stone Age, the Bad Seeds at their baddest…all mixed in here. From their videos, they look like they may have learnt drugs. It’s a ballsy, crazy arrogant album. When Turner and Kane decide to write tunes – like the magnificent ‘Miracle Aligner‘ – the album really shines. But it’s fascinating anyway.

Songs: Miracle Aligner, Sweet Dreams TN, The Dream Synopsis

Here’s a YouTube playlist of my favourite 2016 songs that had videos. It includes tracks from the ten above.

As SBHS Old Boys, as well as friends and family of Old Boys, we stand in outrage and disgust at the Old Boys Union’s decision to invite Scott Morrison to speak at the Spilling the Beans function, April 15th 2015. We call on the OBU to immediately rescind the invitation so as to spare the organisation, and the school itself, the embarrassment of being seen to celebrate the achievements of a man who has so flagrantly disregarded human rights.

In his capacity as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Morrison was at best complicit, and at worst the chief protagonist, in advocating offshore immigration detention policies that violate the United Nations Convention against Torture. In March 2015, the UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, found that Australia’s Regional Processing Centres violated the right of asylum seekers, including children, to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as provided by articles 1 and 16 of the Convention. We note that the Convention against Torture proscribes torture as an international crime, and calls on all signatory states to prosecute or extradite individuals who have directly perpetrated or otherwise authorised torture. The UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has also condemned Morrison’s detention policy. Further, the Australian Human Rights Commission found that policy championed by Morrison and other Ministers of Immigration have caused asylum seeker children significant mental and physical illness and developmental delays.

We are ever mindful of the need for a robust public sphere, in which free political discourse, dissent and contrasting opinions are allowed to flourish. This is not a question of restricting freedom of speech, but instead reflects the desire not to tacitly endorse the actions of a man who has demonstrated callous disregard for human rights. It is cruel and insensitive for the Union to laud this man’s connection to the school, its graduates, and their families.